The 2026 Student Research & Creativity Symposium is Here
The 5th annual Student Research & Creativity Symposium begins on Wednesday, April 1st at 2:15pm at the Brad D. Smith Center for Business & Innovation. The keynote presentation by Dr. Miguel Minguez Lopez kicks off the event in the Encova Auditorium. Student poster and oral presentations follow on April 2nd stating at 8:30am and running through most of the day. Students, faculty, Marshall family, and the community are all invited to attend. Those not able to make it to the venue can follow the presentations available via livestream.
2026 Student Research & Creativity Symposium Poster Award Winners
During the poster session of the symposium, faculty judges evaluated student posters across nine criteria. As an exciting crescendo, the event ended with awards being given to the top posters across multiple categories. Below are the winners from this year’s symposium. Congratulations to all our winners and to everyone who presented – we can’t wait to see what you do next!
Libraries Award
- UGP-29
College of Liberal Arts
Buried Histories: An Analysis of Death Records from Huntington’s Historic Black Cemetery
Abigail Carney
Office of Student Research Awards
Undergraduate
- UGP-32
College of Liberal Arts
Life, Love, and Trauma: Examining the association among ACEs, emotional intelligence, and relationship satisfaction.
Olivia Kingrey, Ethan Smith
Graduate
- GP-05
College of Education & Professional Development
Literacy Across the Lifespan: An Analysis of Programs and Resources for Adolescent and Adult Literacy
Madelaine Riddle
COEPD Awards
Undergraduate
- UGP-31
College of Liberal Arts
Benchmarks for the Effect of Religious Priming on Prosocial Behavior
Ben Whitmore, Jospeh Billingsley
Graduate
- GP-01
College of Education & Professional Development
Policy And Practice: How Technology Guidelines Influence Teaching Practices And Student Engagement In Catholic Schools
Jennifer Badzek
Touma Foundation Awards
Undergraduate
- UGP-25
College of Health Professions
How Weight Distribution Differs Between High- and Low-Handicaps Across A Range Of Clubs
Tyler Young - UGP-63
College of Science
Evaluation of Tripartite Synapse Maturation using Spatial Transcriptomics
Nisha Kumar, Mika Jones, Aaliyah Walls, Tristan Muck, et.al. - UGP-57
College of Science
Thymidine Phosphorylase Deficiency Attenuates Western Diet–Induced Body Weight Gain in Mice
Zander Pinson, Kylee Hogsten, Karlee Mobley
Graduate
- GP-35
School of Medicine
Na/K-ATPase Signaling Modulates Citrate Handling in the Renal Proximal Tubule in Nephrolithiasis
Maafi R. Islam, Kristiana Sklioutovskaya-Lopez , Marco T. Pessoa, et.al. - GP-44
School of Pharmacy
Exploring PRDX6 as a Therapeutic Target in the Development of Novel Medications for Cannabis and Opioid Use Disorders.
Joseph Reshma Madhanu - GP-30
School of Medicine
Reducing N-Myc Downstream Regulated 1 (NDRG1) Potentiates Etoposide Cytotoxicity in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Cells.
Sam Roth, Travis Salisbury, Karleigh Burdette, Chelsea McCallister
